The Lawyer Client Relationship

Lawyers must promote and protect their client's interests. This requires free and open communication between them, and a relationship based on trust and confidence.

Lawyers maintain this confidence through a special legal rule, called solicitor-client privilege. By this rule, lawyers cannot disclose any communication they receive from their clients, unless the client gives permission for the lawyer to do so. The rule doesn't include communications involving criminal conduct on the part of the lawyer.

With solicitor-client privilege, clients can speak freely and fully with their lawyers, without fear of having their discussions exposed in court. By gaining a complete understanding of their clients' situation, lawyers have the ability to defend their clients from every possible angle. The rule of solicitor-client privilege allows lawyers to fulfill their role as champion of their clients' interests.

Natalie Fraser practised law in Whitby, Ontario for seventeen years and is now a freelance legal writer. She often writes for The Lawyers Weekly.